Why people are so awful online

One person makes a statement. Others take issue with some aspect of that statement. Or they make note of every circumstance the original statement did not account for. Or they misrepresent the original statement and extrapolate it to a broader issue in which they are deeply invested. Or they take a singular instance of something and conflate it with a massive cultural trend. Or they bring up something ridiculous that someone said more than a decade ago as confirmation of … who knows?

… what drives so much of the anger and antagonism online is our helplessness offline. There is a desperate hope that if we all become perfect enough and demand the same perfection from others, there will be no more harm or suffering.

— Why people are so awful online, Roxane Gay, The New York Times

An excellent observation of just a few dynamics fueling common experiences on social media. There's many other factors at play of course. Perhaps most powerfully:  algorithmic filter bubbles and a truncated format that naturally strips context, making it a far from perfect medium to discuss complex societal issues.